Siangwaan
Siangwaan, officially the Republic of Siangwaan (Siangwaanian: Tang Zo Siangwaan), is a nation located along the eastern parts of the continent of Palkyras along the Dunomin Ocean. It is surrounded by Varn Venn and Peren to the east; Josol to the southwest; and the mixed-folk of Iruwasa to the west. Heronoja is located north of it beyond the Nereana Bay. Its capital is the sleek city of Ei Ka. Flag and symbols The National Flag of the Republic of Siangwaan (Tang Zo Siang Waan Me Waan Kü) is a rectangular banner of several stripes and bands. The yellow bands represent honour (or the sun), the red band for courage and sacrifice, the white band for strong willpower, the light blue band for wisdom, and the dark blue bands represent resourcefulness (or the sea). The yellow and blue bands are positioned in a way as to subtly reflect the Siangwaanian belief in yam yeung ping, harmony in all things, hence the alternate name of the flag as the "Yam Yeung Flag" (Yam Yeung Kü). Another name for Siangwaan's national flag is "the Nine Stripes", each of which represents a principle from its modern founders. They are: * Tang Lok - Unity * Waan Weng - Alertness * Ming Bak - Purpose * Tang Yok - Fairness * Zang Da - Justice * Chaau Ngen - Equality * Tang Daa - Welfare * Lao Kang - Self-sufficiency * Tie Naa - Determination The national animal of Siangwaan is the keilin, a sort of deer with a tortoise's shell and a thick, fluffy mane. This auspicious beast symbolises renewal and innovation. Siangwaan's Independence Day is celebrated annually on 26 July; its Foundation Day (independence from Vozonid slavery) on 19 June; and the date of Hwong Dei's Coronation is observed around every 5 April, four days after the International New Year. Coat of arms * Mountain with glow - Mount Mandil (a holy mountain), strength and endurance (and divine blessing) * Gryphon with sword - Vozonid heritage, honour and tradition, independence, courage * Keilin/turtle-deer - Siangwaanian regional culture, renewal, innovation, happiness * Nine stripes - order, harmony (an alternate version uses three stripes, due to complaints by Siangwaan's allies and neighbours that "the stripes look ugly") * Yam-yeung/Yin-yang - Harmony, peace Siangwaan's national motto reads: "Lū Tióu Shāau Yāt, Siāng Waanʟ Mōn Suòi!", which means "The Nine Stripes burn through the night, Long Live Siangwaan!". Part of the motto is also the name of Siangwaan's national anthem. History The land of Siangwaan was once inhabited by dozens of competing tribes. The more successful and larger tribes set up their own kingdoms, and some of them adopted foreign customs and tools, from Gauvajut blades and wagons to Redjeteshi pictographs and pottery. Thousands of years later, this land was ruled by the Sarmelonid Empire. It forcibly removed the natives from their land and used it as a penal colony for captured slaves from Emperor Maudolinnir's war against Daizhou. When the Sarmelonid Empire got weaker, one of the slaves started a revolt, and together with any remaining locals he founded Siangwaan. That slave-turned-leader -- Zio Do -- made Siangwaan as an imitation of his native Daizhou, with himself as its first emperor. Siangwaan continued to thrive in the following eras, withstanding countless invasions such as the Green Years and the Tornarin Bombardment, but it was unable to hold back the Thralondian army from overwhelming its army. After the First Wraithstorm, the remaining Siangwaanians drove the weakened Thralondians out of their land, and reestablished Siangwaan as a republic in 1786. When several troves of ancient machinery were accidentally uncovered, the Siangwaanians replicated them and studied at Porashon and Turodaron to build their own advanced technology. At times, they also shared their technology and exchanged resources with their neighbours. And at the early years of the modern Siangwaanian republic, a boom in aborigines' literature led to several new laws protecting the aborigines' rights and bringing more of them into economic equality with that of the Siangwaanian and Vozonid demographics. In 1986, the cost of living got higher, leading to frequent dissatisfaction with the government. To make matters worse, Wannaenid raids and attacks occurred at parts of the country due to its lack of defenses against their enemies' portal system. As rumours of eleven officials taking Wannaenid bribes emerged, protests broke out in August: with more rumours of the President's opulent lifestyle, the protests became into calls for him to resign. During these protests, some of the police officers were killed off and replaced by criminals, hired thugs, and disguised Wannaenids who were sent to slaughter as many protesters as possible, but even they were defeated by the people and the loyalists. With what was known of the Wannaenids' movements in the republic from informants, the government was able to drive the terrorists from the country, and with support from Porashon they built a few more defenses to keep them out. Geography See also: Provinces of Siangwaan Siangwaan is situated at a tropical plateau, which gets cooler and mistier as one goes from the northern coast, southwards toward the Mandil Mountain Range. The further southern parts are cold enough for scenic pine forests to grow and snow to fall, making them popular among hikers and skiiers. Politics Siangwaan is a federal republic; it is ruled by a President and a Vice President, both of which were elected by its citizens. Military Siangwaan's Ground Force is among the continent's best-equipped militaries, in spite of their country's size. Its skies are defended by the Siangwaanian Aerospace Force. The Siangwaanian military is armed with very technologically-advanced weaponry, from plasma rifles to flying tanks and starships. Siangwaanian soldiers wear green uniforms or white armour. Unlike most countries, Siangwaan does not practice conscription, making it attractive to rich people from other countries. Economy Siangwaan has a very developed economy, built by manufacturing vehicles, space trade and flight, medical exports, fishing, rubber, and tourism income. It is a very technologically-advanced nation. Siangwaan's currency is the yüen, known as yüen'ya in plural. A bank note for a single Siangwaanian yüen is worth 100 chin'ya ''coins, each of which retains the square holes in the middle from their ancient predecessors. Most urban Siangwaanians use flying vehicles powered by ''rytoryntar fuel or crystals, while the rest of the country uses land automobiles and trucks like in other countries. Many rural people also prefer using horse-drawn wagons and motorcycles: while some richer rurals also use flying cars, they are often avoided because of their expensive upkeep, their loud noise, and their tendency to attract the occasional vandal, drunkard, or hooligan. Demographics Most people in the country are from the Siangwaanian ethnicity: a tan-skinned, thin-eyed race descended from prisoners of war during the Sarmelonid era who founded this country. Minorities include crimson Josolchir Vozonids and brown-skinned aborigines in the southeast. Attracted by the less-restrictive laws of Siangwaanian society, thousands of blond, blue-eyed Heronoi from the north have also made Siangwaan as their home since the 1800s, and are since recognised as one of the country's minorities. Most Siangwaanian Heronoi work in medicine, transportation, or technology. Aside from them, various expats from other nations have also immigrated to Siangwaan's cities because of their cheaper costs of living. Culture Siangwaan's culture is similar to that of their Daizhouvian ancestors, but with more Ald-Ardeschen and Vozonid influences. Due to this, the months of September (Purulli, Vozonid New Year; and Dang Chung, Mid-Autumn Festival) and November (Uorimon and Zomjonor's Birthday) are regarded as festive months with longer holidays. Siangwaan has one of the region's highest education rates. Popular sports in Siangwaan include soccer, basketball, baseball, parkour, chariot racing, and jousting -- the latter two were introduced by the Heronoi centuries ago. Public holidays Public holidays in Siangwaan include: * Yüen Chung Zit/Siangwaanian New Year (January/February, 3 days) ** This holiday is celebrated with family dinners, fireworks, and red lanterns. * Cheng Ming/Tomb Memorial (March/April) ** Families clean the graves of their ancestors and leave offerings to them. * Gwon Yam's Birthday (March/April) * Sam Nien Zit/New Year's Day (1 April) * Hwong Dei's Coronation (5 April) * Deun Ong Zit/Dragon Boat Races (May/June) * Buddha's Birthday (May/June -- may coincide with Juvantun-na Seklenghhan/Thanksgiving to the High Mountains, a syncretised aboriginal holiday) * Foundation Day (19 June) ** This day is celebrated with a ritual drum performance. * Anggekar-na/Harvest Festival (early July, 1 or 3 days depending on province) * Independence Day (26 July) ** This day is celebrated by displaying striped flags, burning effigies, and lighting trails of lamps from hillside temples to the centres of settlements representing the divine blessing all of Siangwaan. * Emerald Week (25-31 August, optional depending on company) * Purulli/Vozonid New Year (1-3 September) * Dang Chung Zit/Mid-Autumn Festival (September/October) ** This festival is celebrated with lanterns and mooncakes. At the eastern provinces, people danced with dragons and spheres made of joss sticks. * Chong Yeung Festival/Day of the Two Burning Nines (September/October) * Uorimon Games (5 November) ** This day is celebrated with chariot races, jousting, and a mock battle. The venue of this event is randomly determined. * Zomjonor's Birthday (mid-November) * Wohanta-na/North Rains Festival (early December) * Kolieda/Yule (21 December -- coincides with Arinna's Birthday) Full moon days -- which are considered to be sacred in the Buddhist religion -- are also public holidays in Siangwaan. Languages See also: Siangwaanian glossary Siangwaanian, a distant relative and descendant of Daizhouvian, is one of three official languages of Siangwaan; the other two being Josolchir and the international language of Bujanski. Although it is properly written with ideographs, many Siangwaanians write their tonal language using the Josolchir alphabet, as they consider it to be more convenient. Siangwaanian also has its own dialects: for example, the eastern provinces have a bl phoneme in some words developed from b'' or ''l, and the western provinces merge m'' and ''b in many words into v'', which usually appears in Vozonid loanwords. The syllabic Heronoi language is also a minority language in some towns in the west, and aboriginal languages (like Rutai, Kjongkjong, Uwetah'wal, and Baunez) are used in the southeast. Religion Most Siangwaanians are Buddhists, although their religion is heavily influenced by their folk traditions and customs from its Vozonid neighbours. Like its Daizhouvian origin, the Siangwaanian pantheon also has its own hierarchy of gods, celestials, ascended ones, and wights, each of which has their own ceremonies to earn their favour. Popular deities in Siangwaan include Gwon Yam (the goddess of mercy), Gwaan Gong (the god of war), and Woncheung Wong (the god of refined culture). Of the three, Gwaan Gong is revered as the national deity of Siangwaan, in honour of the revolution against Thralondian rule. Minorities of Taoists, Ruists, and Vozonised and Atenist converts also exist in Siangwaan. Taoists and Ruists are more common in the north, Vozonised converts are found in the southern provinces (where they live alongside Josolchir immigrants, and where shrines to Mount Mandil's ape-wight dot the mountainside), and Atenist converts mostly live in urban areas. Taoists (and Ruists to a lesser extent) are given additional benefits by the government for performing monthly or yearly ceremonies for the country at its national temples. Furthermore, in spite of Siangwaan having a Buddhist majority, the Nine Principles that form the republic's national philosophy were based on Ruist beliefs. In the olden days, Ruism was treated very negatively in Siangwaan, as it was blamed for Daizhou's historical backwardsness and torturous focus on rigidity and education. People were cut off from their families for practicing Ruist rites, copies of Ruist books and portraits of Hong Chi were printed and then burned, and statues of Hong Chi were cursed at and smashed to pieces with sledgehammers on his birthday. They even thought that studying too much of the Leun Yu (Analects) would cause harmful ghosts to possess its readers. Because of that treatment and the resulting bullying during his youth, one of Siangwaan's founders based his republic's principles on Ruist teachings to show that Ruism "is not cruel or tyrannical" and can coexist with modernity; and in spite of death threats he is renowned throughout the world as a reformer. The Heronoi minority practices either their native polytheistic religion and its worship of the moon god-and-founder king Heros, or their unique monotheism. A few hundreds are instead converts to local beliefs or to Atenism. Aborigines also mostly practice their won native polytheism, but some have also converted mostly to Buddhism or Atenism, due to them being assimilated or influenced by their neighbours. Freedom of religion is a protected right in Siangwaan. Owing to greater exposure to education, a large portion of Siangwaanians of all races are atheists, although many of them practice ceremonies at shrines and temples out of respect. Trivia * Siangwaan is influenced by the TVB shows that the author watched when he grew up. The country's society and culture are based on those of Hong Kong and Taiwan, with some American, Malaysian, and Mainland Chinese influences. ** In fact, Siangwaan's name was derived from the Mandarin Chinese names "Xianggang" (Hong Kong) and "Taiwan" put together. ** Siangwaan's traditional culture was based on Tang Dynasty art, as the author thought that the Cantonese dialect developed during that dynasty. ** Siangwaan's name in Chinese should be "向彎" (Xiàngwān, Hoeng3waan1), which means "towards the bend". The country itself faces a large bay to the north. ** The Nine Stripes -- Siangwaan's national philosophy -- were based on the San Min Chu I and the Five Demands of Hong Kong put together. * Coincidentally, Siangwaan's national flag resembles that of the Republic of China before 1928. * It was the setting of one of the author's earliest Rabydosverse stories from 2015, "Unicorn Farmhand", which was about an intelligent draught horse who loves to write to his owners. He intended for the horse/unicorn's keepers and their country to be East Asian to play with people's demands for "diversity", and to subvert stereotypes of his Chinese people. * In 1986 AT, a single Siangwaanian ''yüen was worth 16 Josolchir minso. * People from Ei Ka -- the capital city -- are noted for being rude and impatient. Category:Republics Category:Countries Category:Early Rabydosverse ideas Category:Main settings Category:Lists of holidays Category:Unicorn Farmhand Category:The Free World